ICE ON THE MOON: To Be or Not to Be, that is the Question

ABSTRACT

My research report is about what students and staff at Lake Valley Navajo School thought about the possibility of ice existing on the moon. Data was collected from a short survey and 50 students and staff responded yes that there was ice on the moon and 36 students and staff responded no to the possibility of ice on the moon. We were trying to find out what other scientists thought about it, but we only got a response from one who thought there was ice on the moon. Does anyone know for sure?

Science Research Report

ICE ON THE MOON:

To Be or Not to Be, that is the Question

TROY TRUJILLO

Lake Valley Navajo School

Grade 4

May 3, 2001

In the Scholastic Encyclopedia of Space (1998), it states about the Earth’s moon: “There is no air, no liquid water, and no weather to alter its surface” (p. 38). In 1834, John Hershel, an astronomer, wrote that there was a possibility of flowing water on the moon (Eisman, 1996).

In 1994, the Clemetine lunar spacecraft was sent to the moon, and “a dirty lake” twice the size of Puerto Rico and 7.5 miles deep was detected in the South Pole Aitken Basin (Eisman, 1996).

Why is it important to find ice on the moon? To survive, humans need water, sunlight, oxygen (air), and food. If water already existed on the moon, astronauts wouldn’t need to take it with them. They could fill up their water supply when they got to the moon. Therefore, water would be one less thing to haul into space.

How did water get to the moon? According to some scientists, when the Earth was young, something big smashed into it, an object as large as Mars. The pieces that fell from the Earth after the crash clumped together to form the Moon. This is estimated to be about 4 million years ago. The Moon is 2,160 miles in diameter and consists of mountains, craters, lava, and dust regions (Scholastic Encyclopedia, 1998). The moon is described as “a ball of rock that circles around the Earth about once every 27 days” (Becklake, 1997, p. 12). There are two sides of the moon: the nearside, which faces the Earth; and the farside, which does not face the Earth (Becklake, 1997, p. 12).

Some scientists think that comets crashed to the moon and probably brought the water because the center of a comet is “icy water” (Becklake, 1997, p. 34) and are “90 percent water” (Eisman, 1996). William Feldman, a scientist at Los Alamos explains it this way: “The water at both poles of the moon was discovered in the form of water carried by comets and meteorites that continually hit the moon. The water vapor produced during the crash bounces around until it freezes out in the intense cold portions of craters near both the poles that are deep enough that they do not receive any sunlight” (Personal Interview, 21 Feb. 2001). See APPENDIX A.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the research report was to find about the possibility of ice on the Earth’s moon.

HYPOTHESIS

I think that more scientists will agree that there is water on the moon.

PROCEDURE

Frances and I found a web site about ice on the moon. We started to keep a log of my science experiment. We called David Mayeau, an astronomer at San Juan College in Farmington, and asked him about the possibility of ice on the moon.

I emailed Dr. William Feldman from Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico. He replied to some questions we emailed him Tuesday, 2/20/01. See APPENDIX A. I emailed a letter back to Mr. Feldman and asked Mr. Feldman to email a question to his other scientist friends whether or not they think there is ice on the moon. I got no reply from Mr. Feldman again or scientist friends.

I visited NASA website and found NASA KIDS page. I participated in a webcast with astronauts, William Stinson and Harry Johnson. I asked them a question about if they thought there was ice on the moon. See APPENDIX D. I also sent letter to NASA scientists I found on the NASA website. See APPENDIX B and APPENDIX B(1).

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Since we didn’t receive any emails from Mr. Feldman or the NASA scientists, we decided to ask Lake Valley Navajo Students and staff what they thought about ice on the moon. See APPENDIX C.

My friends helped me collect the data and we counted the yes and no responses then we made a graph of my data. Mary Jane (a visitor from Grand Rapids Community College) and I made a cover for my report then helped to graph my results on the computer. I did not receive any response from these scientists.

RESULTS

There were 50 yes responses and 36 no responses. Twenty-eight (28) students thought that there was no possibility of ice on the moon. Thirty-six students (36) students thought that there was a possibility of ice on the moon. See APPENDIX E.

CONCLUSION

This experiment showed that more students and staff believed there is a possibility that there is ice on the moon. I guess that scientists think there is a possibility of ice on the moon. I still would like to know what other scientists think about it.

The moon is the only planet that humans have visited outside the Earth. So far, twelve astronauts have landed on the moon. If more astronauts were going to the moon, it would be helpful for them to know if there’s water already there, because they can get water on the moon instead of bringing so much with them. William Feldman said “if people will ever spend extended time on the moon in the future, they will need access to water in order to survive” (Personal Interview, 21 Feb. 2001). See APPENDIX A.

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REFERENCES

Becklake, S. (1997). Space. Chicago, IL: World Book.

Eisman, D. (1996). Water on the Moon. Available at http://users.visi.net/~cwt-moon-ice.html. Retrieved on February 13, 2001.

NASA KIDS Home Page. Available at http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Space .

NASA QUEST: Space Team Online. Available at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ksc/feb/ .

Scholastic Encyclopedia of Space. (1998). New York: Scholastic.

Space & Beyond. Available at http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Space/ .